Florida judge wins damages after surgical sponge left inside him causes five months of agony

Advice to young doctors: If you're going to make a mistake during surgery, don't make it while you're operating on a judge.

Florida County Judge Nelson Bailey was left in agony when a foot-long surgical sponge was left inside him during a routine operation.

The judge went under the knife at Good Samaritan Medical Center and, after the surgery, noticed the pain in his stomach only got worse.

Agony: Judge Nelson Bailey suffered five months of distress after a 12in sponge was left inside of him during surgery. He recently received undisclosed damages

He returned to his primary doctors and complained, being sent for repeated CT scans. But each time the metal marker on the sponge appearing in the scans was misidentified.

For five months, the 12-inch by 12-inch sponge festered near his intestines, finally being discovered and removed in March.

Judge Bailey said he was shocked by the size of what had been left inside of him.

He said: 'I was expecting something like a kitchen sponge. I was shocked.'

His body had apparently built a protective barrier around the sponge, trapping infection from spreading.

Part of his intestine was rotted away, which later had to be
removed. The 67-year-old also suffered another calamity when an
incorrectly dispensed medicine from the hospital's pharmacy nearly gave
him a heart attack.

'Sadly they nearly killed him twice, and if he wasn't such an ornery old coot, they may have'

He said: 'It was the only time in my life that I knew I was actually dying.'

The medicine had revved up his heart instead of lowering his blood pressure, which is what had been prescribed.

County Judge Peter Evans, who sat at Judge Bailey's bedside after the medication mix-up, said he was unsure if his friend would survive.

'Sadly they nearly killed him twice, and if he wasn't such an ornery old coot, they may have.'

Although it gave him a scare, because Judge Bailey suffered no lasting physical effect of the medicine error, he had no legal claim for damages.

But the judge has reached a settlement with Good Samaritan, the terms of which are confidential.

The judge isn't yet finished with his litigation. He recently informed two radiologists of his intent to sue and is preparing the same notice for his surgeon.

He's now advocating for changes to the malpractice system so that patients can receive higher damages if they are a victim of negligence.

Judge Bailey also wants hospitals to install equipment that will unfailingly spot sponges or equipment left behind after surgery.

Unnervingly, according to medical journals, leaving surgical sponge or even medical instruments inside a patient is of the most common mistakes made in surgery.